Dark Star
by Sickboy123
Summary: A new kind of Slender story, three young men fight for their lives as Slenderman ruthlessly hunts them.
1. Chapter 1

It was an unusually warm October night, as Ricky stumbled through town. The sun had just dipped below the horizon. Ricky was well known throughout the small rural community as the town drunk. Even though it was a Wednesday night and he had work the next morning, he still couldn't refuse a few shots of whisky. He shambled into a wooded section of the town park, he sat down at the base of a tree on the verge of passing out. Little did he know he was being stalked by a savage, unearthly predator. His eyes were just about to close when he heard a stick break. He looked up and blurted out "Is someone there?" No answer. He felt a strange feeling in his gut, as if someone was watching him. He got to his feet, "Who's there?! Come get some!" In the corner of his eye he spied humanoid shape. He turned to face his observer only to find nothing but black night. The feeling got stronger, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. Humans, like all mammals have the ability to detect when a predator is hunting them. He decided it was best if he got out of woods, he turned to leave when he stopped dead in his tracks. Standing about fifty yards away among the trees was a tall figure, shrouded in shadows. Ricky couldn't get a good look at what he thought was a person. "What are you lookin' at? You're lucky I'm to wasted, or I would come over there and kick your ass!" His threat had no effect on the figure, who continued to stand and survey him. This was strange to Ricky, usually when he made a threat or insult, the person receiving would spit something nasty back at him or simply walk away. The figure standing its ground frightened Ricky to no end. He began to run for the other side of the park, he made the critical mistake of turning his back though. This is what the creature hunting him lived for; the thrill of pursuing prey. Ricky bolted out of the woods and onto a deserted highway. He looked back, the figure was nowhere to be seen, the feeling he had slowly dissipated . Confident he had lost whatever was chasing him, he began to wander home. The street lights above him began to flicker, before slowly shutting off one by one until they road was completely black. Then the street lamp directly above him turned on, as if Ricky was standing in a stage spotlight. The feeling came back, twice as strong as before. He stopped walking, his heart furiously pumped blood, saturated in adrenaline. "w-who's there?" He yelped, his voice cracking from fear. A black, snake-like, arm shot out of the shadows and grabbed Ricky by the ankle. It dragged him screaming into the darkness, his ear-piercing cries of agony were soon replaced by a gargling noise, then silence.

A few hours later, a car came rolling down the road. A young man in the passenger seat nudged the driver. "Look out, there's something big lying by the side of the road." The car slowed down as it passed the object "It's a person!" The driver exclaimed. The car stopped, the driver and two other occupants got out. The driver withdrew a flashlight from the glove box, he shown the light on the body which was lying face down. "Oh my god… It's Ricky, the bastards probably shit-faced again" He chuckled. "Hey Ricky! The road ain't a good place to nap!" Another one of the young men teased. "We gotta get this dumbass home. Ed, give me a hand will ya?" The driver said. Ed, the occupant of the passenger seat nodded and approached Ricky's still body. The driver glanced at his watch and said "It's 8:15 on a week night and you're already passed out in the street, get up ya damn drunk!" he said to the body. Ed gently kicked the body, "Wake up!" He grabbed Ricky's shoulder and turned him over, upon seeing the other side of Ricky's body, Ed jumped back in shock. Ricky's lower jaw had been completely torn off, his chest cavity had been split open, his still beating heart and lungs completely exposed. Deep, wide puncture wounds also pocked his face and neck. There was a traumatized silence, as all four men took in the horror. Jay, the driver was the first to break the silence. "Call an ambulance for Christ's sakes!" His words causing the others to snap out of their astonishment. All three fumbled for their phones, trying to dial 911. To their dismay, none of their devices worked. "Shit! Mine's dead!"

"Mine too"

"Does no one have a working phone!?"

"What do we do?! Is it safe to move him?!"

"Moving him might kill him! We should let EMTs do it!"

"They'll never make it here in time!"

As the young men franticly thought of what to do, the creature watched tentatively from the shadows, curious of the new prey which had just appeared. The creature yearned for a challenging kill, having only gone after prey such as homeless people or in Ricky's case: drunks. Something about these young men struck an interest in the tall, skinny marauder. In the corner of Jay's eye he thought he saw a lanky person, watching them. "If someone's there we need help! A man's been seriously injured!"

"Who are you talking to?"

"I thought I saw someone in the woods" Jay said

"I don't see anyone! Quit wasting time and think!" said Rich, another occupant of the car.

The men finally decided on getting Ricky to a hospital, they carefully picked up the body, and put him in the car. The car sped off to the closest medical center, leaving a large puddle of blood and the other worldly hunter behind. As the taillights of the car faded into the distance, the slender being nodded once, it had decided who its new victims would be.


	2. Chapter 2

Jay's attempts to get Ricky to a hospital alive were futile, the town drunk was pronounced dead on arrival. While waiting in the hospital, Rich felt something "buzz" in his pocket. He had just received a text message. This was strange to him because when he had attempted to call an ambulance, his phone refused to turn on, now it was receiving messages. Police showed up and took them in for questioning. In the interrogation room, a pair of state troopers barked a long series of questions at them.

"Did you see anything suspicious at the crime scene? The weapon used? Rope? Anything like that?" An officer asked.

All three of them shook their head no; they were too shocked to speak. Jay then looked up at the trooper.

"I thought I saw someone watching us when we found him." He said

"Can you give me a description?" asked the officer

"I didn't get a good look at him. I'm not even sure if I actually saw anyone." Jay admitted

"Any pieces of info help" the trooper reminded

"He was tall, really tall. And skinny too. I think he was wearing a black suit and tie. I didn't see his face." Jay described

"Thanks. You boys should get home. You look like you could use some rest." The authoritative figure advised.

As Jay drove his friends home, silence dominated the car, only the dull hum of the engine could be heard. Jay couldn't stop thinking about the horror he had just seen, none of them could. After dropping his friends off, Jay drove home. His house was out of town in the country, surrounded by empty wheat fields in the front and miles of forest in the back , he preferred a more rural setting than urban.

Jay closed the door and locked it shut, he plopped down on his couch and turned on the TV. He tuned into a rather boring sitcom, in attempts to get his mind off the drunkard's mutilated corpse. Two hours later, Jay began feeling better. He began dozing off on the couch when the TV began to produce an eerie, scratchy, static noise. The grainy sound woke him up just in time for him to witness the power go out.  
"Goddamn it…" He muttered

He slipped on his shoes, grabbed a flashlight and went outside to check the fuse box. He flipped a few breakers in attempt to restore power to no avail.

"Lines must be down" He thought

He sleepily walked back to his front door. Jay stepped onto his porch and felt something crunch underneath his foot. He shined the light down to see what he had stepped on. On the ground where his foot had been, lay a strange unrecognizable object. Jay kneeled down to inspect it, then jumped back in fright; the object on his porch was Ricky's missing jaw.

"My god… If this is a prank, the joke ends right now! This is not fucking funny!" he bellowed into the night.

If it was just a prank, it was incredibly realistic. He shined his flashlight over his front yard and into the wheat fields, hoping a couple of teenage pranksters would come out of hiding to tell him it was all just a joke gone wrong. No such thing happened. His light continued sweep over the land, about 200 yards out in the field his light illuminated a tall, slender being. Jay thought he recognized the figure from when he had found Ricky.

"YOU! Did you do this?! " He snarled at the individual standing in the field, the creature didn't answer.

"Answer me damn it!" the creature remained silent.

"Fine, have it your way" Jay said

He quickly walked inside and picked up his house phone to call the police, but soon realized the phone wouldn't work without power. He tried his cellphone only to find it was still dead. A morbid feeling came over Jay as reality set in; his cell phone and landline were dead, he was in the middle of nowhere, and now a crazed murderer was outside. He ran up to his bed room and opened his gun-cabinet. Inside was a small collection of hunting weapons. He removed a 1911 handgun and a clip, his hands shook uncontrollably as he slipped the magazine into the gun and pulled the slide back. He had kept the weapon for home defense, but never thought he would have to use it. Pistol in hand, he went back outside to confront Ricky's murderer. He swept his light over the land, trying to acquire his target. He was unable to locate the creature again though, so he roared into the night; "If you ever come back here again, I'll blow you're goddamn head off!"

Jay turned around to lock himself in his house, but stopped when he noticed something new on his door; a large, red "X" was smeared in blood over the wood. It was presumably Ricky's blood. Jay was too scared to scream, he simply ran inside and locked all doors, windows, and closed all blinds. Het lit a candle to combat the darkness, then sat down on his couch, his gun close by. All of a sudden, his power came back on, Jay nearly jumped out of his skin when his TV came back to life. He scrambled to his house phone and called the police.


	3. Chapter 3

Normally, it would have taken the police half an hour to reach his house, located far out in the country. But when he mentioned the murderer outside, the state police arrived in fifteen minutes. Their cars came screaming up his driveway, sirens blaring. They pounded on his door.

"Police, open up!"

Jay put the gun down on the table and let them in.

"Are you ok?" An officer asked

"I'm fine…" Jay said, his voice low and fearful

"Is that blood on your door?" His partner asked

"Yes it is sir" Jay replied, his gaze stuck to the floor

"Is the suspect still here? Did he leave any evidence?" The officer went on to ask

"I don't think he's here, but he left some evidence…." Jay shuddered when he said the words

Jay led the officers to Ricky's jaw, they hadn't noticed it when they came to his door.

"Good lord…." The policeman said quivering

His partner grabbed his radio, "Dispatch, we need a K9 unit here, NOW" He demanded.

Soon a K9 SUV was parked in his driveway. A police dog sniffed the jaw then swept the area in search of the killer. Law enforcement officers drilled him with more questions, but Jay could only tell them what they already knew. The investigation and search for the killer continued until the early hours of the morning. The dog team couldn't find a scent, and authorities uncovered nothing new, except the detached jaw.

He went to bed around 4 a.m., Jay didn't sleep at all that night. His eyes wide open as the sun spilled through the window. He groaned and got up, his alarm hadn't even gone off yet, but he knew trying to sleep was pointless. His pistol was on the night stand next to him, he put it back in the gun safe thankful he didn't have to use it that night. After a breakfast of leftovers and black coffee, he was on his work. When he turned to lock the door, he saw the bloody "X". A grisly reminder of last night's events. Police forbid him from washing it away until the forensics unit arrived and took samples. The CSI team were scheduled to come that afternoon, while he was away. He drove to his job at the local car dealer ship, but first stopped at the gas station to buy the local paper. On the front page was a section labeled "Local Motorist Discovers Mangled Body." There was not picture as the police hadn't released the ghastly photos of the body. None of their names were in the article either, the article itself included a short description of the night's event and the condition of the body.

As he sat at his desk, he struggled to keep on task. His mind kept wandering back the previous evening. His manager caught him daydreaming, when she saw the bags under his eyes she barked; "Did you come to work hungover?"

Jay didn't answer, but simply stared up at her. A spent expression on his face.

"Don't you give me that look!" She snapped

As his boss grilled him for lack of productivity, Jay zoned out. His mind was in a faraway place. The only words which registered were "You look awful! Go home and don't come back until you've got some sleep."

Jay drove home, the forensics team were dusting for fingerprints when he arrived so he had to use the back door. After three hours, the CSI team packed up and left without finding any traces which could lead to the killer. As soon as they left, Jay scrubbed the blood off his door, ridding his house of the ghastly reminder. That night, while he was eating dinner, the lights began to flicker. It wasn't uncommon for the wind to cause power surges, but something didn't feel right. He peaked out the window in the front of his house and saw nothing. He opened the front door with a flashlight and swept the beam over his property seeing nothing unusual, but he wasn't satisfied. He checked his back yard as well. Jay stepped out on his back porch and scanned his back yard. The feeling he had began to grow, it was a tense, nauseating sensation. He then saw something which made his heart jump; standing in his yard at the tree line was the tall, slender killer. Jay immediately went upstairs for his gun safe, grabbing his pistol. He almost kicked open his back door. The creature was even closer now, only about 50 yards away. Jay realized just how tall the skinny marauder was; about seven and a half feet tall. He pointed the pistol at its torso, but the unearthly hunter was unfazed by the sight of the weapon

"You got a lot of balls coming back here!" Jay growled but the murderer didn't answer

He noticed the Slender man had a blank face, void of any eyes, mouth or nose. As if he were wearing a tight ski mask "Take that stupid mask off! I wanna see your real face you sicko!" Jay demanded and took a step closer, but Slender didn't seem to care of his advance.

Jay pulled the hammer on his weapon back "Silent treatment eh? Get on your knees or I'll shoot!" He threatened. The creature could smell Jay's fear, the air was ripe with it. Jay had never pointed a gun at anything other than animals before, in fact it was the first time he had even considered pointing a gun at what he thought was another human. His finger tightened around the trigger "Last chance! Get on the ground!" He screamed, his voice hoarse from yelling. The creature defiantly stood still. Jay lined the sights up over the center of its chest and squeezed the trigger. The flash from the gun illuminated his entire back yard, the gunshot rolled through the quiet night. Jay lowered his weapon, expecting to see his tormenter lying on the ground; either dead or wounded. To his surprise, nothing was there, no body or blood. He stood on his back porch, failing to comprehend what just happened. One second, a murderer was staring him down, the next he was gone. Had he imagined it? Had sleep deprivation caused him to hallucinate? As these thoughts raced through his head, the slender man watched him from the trees, Jay hadn't imagined him. The creature had no intension of hunting Jay that night, instead it was testing him. It wanted to learn how he reacted to close encounters. The creature realized the human would try to defend himself, but this was what the creature wanted; a difficult kill. Jay walked back inside and locked the door. He had convinced himself it was just a hallucination, and decided sleep was the best cure for it.


	4. Chapter 4

Jay lay in bed for hours, he had taken sleeping pills to no avail. The clock read 2:26 a.m. He desperately wanted rest, but his body refused to let him sleep. He kept thinking about the "X" smeared across his door. What did it mean? Was it a warning? He was considering staying over at one of his friends' houses, until the murderer was caught. He thought the presence of others might calm his nerves.

His stomach growled, he went downstairs for a midnight snack. While looking through his pantry, he thought he heard a slight creaking noise. He tensed, then thought

"Get a grip; It's just the old house"

He went back to looking for food but heard it again, it was coming from the living room. He stopped what was he doing to go check. He moved cautiously though a hallway to his den, taking extra care not to make any noise. He peaked around the corner into the room and saw no one. He relaxed and stepped out into the living room. His sigh of relief was cut short when he noticed his reclining chair was rocking back and forth, as if someone had just sat there. He froze; someone else was in his house. He realized his gun was still in his room, upstairs. He ran to the stairs and was half way up when he saw the tall faceless creature waiting for him at the top. Paralyzed with fear, Jay stared at it like a deer in headlights. He felt a wave of extreme nausea come over him. He turned to run but slipped and fell back down the stairs. His ankle hit the floor first, making a loud popping noise. He tried to stand back up but fell back down, his ankle was broken. He desperately crawled to his kitchen, in attempts to get to a phone and a knife. He looked back, the Slender man was no longer at the top of his stairs, it was standing directly over him. Horrified, Jay scrambled across the flood, his ankle pulsing in pain. A long, tentacle-like appendage sprouted from Slender's back and wrapped around Jay's neck. It dragged him back and effortlessly lifted him up. It pulled him closer as he gasped for breath. Jay's ears started to ring and his vision became clouded. It tightened its grip, crushing Jay's wind pipe. Slender cocked his arm back as if he was preparing for the killing blow. At this point, Jay woke up. His heart was pounding and a cold sweat covered his body. He sat up in bed, trembling and clutching the center of his chest.

"It was just a dream…." He said "It was all just a bad dream…"

His clock read 3:30 a.m., he had barely slept an hour.

He was wide awake when the sun came up. Jay stepped out on his back porch and stared at the woods behind his house. He didn't know why, but something was drawing him into the forest. He decided a hike through the woods might help him settle down. He laced up his boots, drank a can of Red Bull and tucked his pistol in his back pocket.

The warm October air had begun to cool as a cold front began to push its way in. Jay took a deep breath of it and began his hike. He wondered if it had been a good idea to leave the safety of his house. He thought his recent encounter with Slender was a mere hallucination but was still jumpy. He knew the woods behind his house incredibly well; he and his friends frequently hunted in them. He hiked up the steep incline of a narrow valley, roughly 200 yards across. Once at the top he stopped to rest, he leaned against a pine tree and looked over the gulch. The woods had a way of relaxing him, after a hard day at work, Jay would go for a hike. He glanced up at the sky which was slowly turning grey and sighed.

"Rain…" He thought

Jay turned around and started to hike back, content with his relaxing journey. He took his time walking back, taking a longer, more scenic route. One thing he found strange was the lack of animals, there were no birds in the air or squirrels in the trees. It was if some unnatural force had driven them away. As he pondered this question, he thought he heard the rustling of leaves behind him so he stopped to listen. There was the signature thumping noise of feet coming toward him. He looked around but didn't see anyone. He stepped behind a tree and drew his gun. He quietly removed the clip to make sure it was loaded then clicked the safety off. The footsteps were getting closer, he readied the pistol. He peeked around the tree expecting to see the faceless killer. To his surprise it was another hiker, clad in an overstuffed backpack and flannel. Jay quickly put the gun away.

"Howdy partner! I didn't see you there!" The other hiker said warmly with a broad southern accent. Jay came out from behind the tree.

"Oh hey…" He said, still somewhat uneasy.

"You look like you just seen a ghost! Is something wrong?" The hiker asked

"I wasn't expecting to see anyone else out here, that's all" Jay explained

"Oh! Well in that case; I didn't mean to startle you" He apologized

"It's all good" Jay said and turned to leave

"Hey wait" the hiker called. Jay turned around.

"I'm a little lost, could you point me in the right direction?"

He led the hiker to a trail leading into town before heading back to his house. Jay was just exiting the woods when a cold rain drop landed on his head.

The hiker Jay encountered continued to trek through the woods as the rain began to pick up. He had taken a wrong turn and was now completely lost again. The hiker sat down on a stump for a breather. A cold wind picked up, spraying him in the face with rain.

"I picked the wrong day for this!" He grunted

Something caught his eye on the ground next to him. It was a wrinkled piece of paper with the phrase "Always watches… no eyes" scribbled on the paper. He felt a chill go down his spine, it wasn't from the wind. He began to feel insecure, like someone was hovering over his shoulder. He stood up and began walking again with an increased pace. He wasn't sure why, but something in the back of his mind urged him to get out of there. A knot formed in his stomach, from both fear and physical activity. He kept walking faster, then broke out into a full run. He was not even sure what he was running from, but instinct told him to flee. He blindly ran deeper into the forest until his muscles burned. He stopped when his mussels demanded a break. As he tried to catch his breath, he failed to notice the slender figure hidden amongst the trees. A wretched, sickening feeling swept over him. He looked up and found himself standing directly in front of a tall faceless man in a suit and tie. Before he had time to react, the faceless creature drove a blade-like arm into the hiker's chest, a spray of blood splatted on the ground. His scream of anguish echoed through the forest.


End file.
